In the year ended December 2008 there was a record 5.8 million short-term resident departures (graph 23.11), the highest number of resident departures ever recorded for a calendar year.

23.11 Short-term movements(a), Resident departures

The top destinations for Australian residents departing short term during 2008 were New Zealand (921,100 departures), the United States of America (492,300), the United Kingdom, Channel Islands & Isle of Man (420,300), Thailand (404,100) and Indonesia (380,700) (table 23.12).

Between 2007 and 2008 the number of short-term resident departures to Indonesia increased by 35%, and to Fiji by 18%. Short-term departures to China fell by 3%, from 284,300 to 277,300.